Stacking, Dog Games, & Smiles

Jaydon has always been a fan of stacking things.

His passion for stacking reached a whole new level this year thanks to the Legos he received from Santa this Christmas.

For the past week, Jaydon has spent the better part of his day (when we are home) stacking away.

Another thing he really likes doing is playing Diggity Dog, his new favorite game. I have to limit the number of times we play it in a sitting, but the good news is that I really like it, too. As an added bonus, Jaydon likes playing separately with the dogs and bones that come with the game. Sometimes he takes one of the dogs to bed with him. Sometimes he just walks around with a dog in his hand or pocket. And sometimes he/we build things (mostly using his wooden blocks) for the dogs to play in/with (houses, beds, slides, etc...). There's a big risk that a peice will get lost with him playing with the pieces separately and I hate losing pieces to anything; however, it's so much fun to see the imaginative play...something not to be discouraged.

Speaking of dog games...Jay also LOVES, LOVES, LOVES playing with Ellie. Ellie isn't always thrilled with the "games" Jaydon wants to play with her, but she is a trooper. I like that they both get a good workout in the process. It's not all running around with Ellie. Sometimes Jay will call to me and say, "Look at me, Mom". Next, I'll find Jay with Ellie, and he'll have her in some sort of "affectionate" embrace. Ellie seems to like it for a bit, but she usually loses interest before Jaydon does. She'll wander off in search of other things, possibly just seeking alone time. Being the persistent guy that he is, Jay will simply seek her out. Jay will occasionally ask me to take a picture of he and Ellie when they are chumming around. This is quite a departure from his "I will run away and/or hide from you if you try to take my picture" attitude that existed for the first three years of his life. I like this new attitude...hopefully it sticks.

The above pictures with Ellie were taken last November. Recently, however, I banned Jaydon from lying on Ellie's bed (at least while she's on it) because it almost always seems to lead to trouble.

Speaking of pictures...Jaydon will occasionally practice smiling. My bet is that it's carry over from the "practicing" we did prior to taking our family pictures (in a studio) before Christmas. He'll look over at Brian and/or I and say, "how 'bout this one?" We get a kick out of it...the good smiles and the not-so-good ones. Brian and I let him critique our smiles as well. The practicing really seems to be helping. :)